In Pimps Up, Hos Down: Hip Hops Hold on Young Black Women (NYU Press), T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting offers a gift to the black womens psyche: a scolding analysis of misogyny in modern Hip-Hop culture. She exposes racism to the core, calling to mind generations of racial abuse in the black community as a reason that has defined concepts of physical beauty. As professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and French at Vanderbilt University, Sharpley-Whiting unmasks thought provoking socio-political commentaries concerning sexual obsession in rap music and its affects on the black female sense of self. In a sharp but forceful attempt to alarm the pop masses of Hip-Hops stereotypical representations, Pimps Up, Hos Down boldly critiques and discusses topics such as the allure of ethnically ambiguous females in Hip-Hop videos. Through academic analysis, reporting, and satirical narrative, Pimps Up, Hos Down displays the image of black women in mass media through music videos, television and decomposes its appeal to millions. With an interrogation of gender politics within Hip-Hop, and subsequently the world, Sharpley-Whiting successfully balances the challenge of highlighting the destructive elements of Hip-Hop as a culture while remaining true to the fact that she isan avid fan of the Hip-Hop generation. How women of color make fateful choices regarding their standards for beauty is definitely food for thought. The books demanding presence exemplifies why we should and should not allow Hip-Hop to co-exist with the confines of beauty placed on us even long before Hip-Hop made history.